A contentious potential traffic revision has been added to the City of Montesano’s six-year transportation improvement program.
In the past year, the city has floated the idea of a traffic revision on Main Street at the off ramp of Highway 12, across the street from Monte Square. Initially, the traffic revision was designed as a roundabout (and those same engineer drawings included a rest area) but the city has since said the traffic revision may not be a roundabout.
When the roundabout was suggested, many members of the public attended several city council meetings to express their opposition to the traffic revision. A petition opposed to the roundabout was submitted to the council with more than 200 signatures, however a quick glance over the petition showed at least one repeating name and it’s unclear if every person who signed the petition lives within the city. Only a handful of public comments have supported a roundabout.
Concerns include the roundabout impeding semi truck traffic, and the potential for trains (at the crossing south of Pioneer Avenue) backing up vehicle traffic into the roundabout.
The city has received a state appropriation totalling $550,000 for a traffic revision at the intersection.
According to Mayor Vini Samuel, the project had to be added to the six-year transportation improvement program so the city doesn’t lose the funding moving forward.
“We discovered that we have to go through the obligation process for the $550,000 for the traffic revision,” Samuel said. “We can’t even bill against that until we go through the obligation process, and to be in the obligation process we had to have that project in our six-year street plan.”
In the city’s transportation improvement program, the project is listed as being completed in three phases through 2019.
The appropriation is only for a traffic revision with no mention of the rest area.
The city is planning to hold a special meeting for public input at 7 p.m. on Oct. 30 at City Hall.
“I just want to be clear that this doesn’t authorize the traffic circle,” Councilman Dan Wood emphasized.
Elma council approves library spending
The Elma City Council on Monday, Oct. 2, gave unanimous approval for the city to use excess library levy funds to pay for the carpet work scheduled at Elma Timberland Library that exceeds the original $15,000 grant amount.
Elma residents approved a $650,000 bond for the library in 1992 and Timberland Libraries gave a $75,000 grant for the project. That bond was fully paid off as of September 2012 and an excess of nearly $28,000 remained for allocation.
The library requested some $659 dollars be allocated to the carpet project from the leftover funds. The original grant from the Grays Harbor Community Foundation was for $15,000 which was matched by the city. The total cost of the carpeting project now is estimated at $30,659.
In other business, the council heard multiple petitions for rezoning and conditional use permits. Most were unanimously approved with the exception of a request for a rezone or a conditional use permit for Learning to Grow Child Care in Elma. That request will be sent to the hearing examiner.
Councilmen Jim Taylor and Pat Miller were absent.
